This past weekend the University of Arizona went on tour and beat the University of Texas on Friday night and then traveled to Waco to take on the Baylor Bears on Sunday. Due to some injuries and ‘retirements’ the Baylor squad is very young and would surely be tested by this 1st Division opponent. The game kicked off @ Noon in beautiful, but windy weather.
Starting Baylor Lineup (1st Team):
1 Dylan Gray
2 DJ Spence
3 Sebastian Price
4 Rob Geiersbach
5 Miklos Valdez
6 Jack Noe (Replaced by Rhett @ 45th minute)
7 Nate Sloan
8 Gavin Goetchius (Co-Captain)
9 Ryan Phillips
10 Jeff Kreisel (Captain)
11 Cody Riles (Replaced by Mark @ 65th minute)
12 Jon Hoskett
13 Josh Terndup
14 Jordan Dubuisson (Replaced by Josh Key @ 70th minute)
15 Brent Jukubec
The University of Arizona took the 20 mph wind in the 1st half and took full advantage of it. Poor tackling, lack of aggressiveness, and inexperience showed in the first 40. The University of Arizona ran in tries at the 7th, 28th, 37th, and 39th minutes of the first half along with scoring a penalty conversion in the 22nd minute. This left the score at 25-0 at halftime. With the wind still blowing like crazy this was not an insurmountable lead, but Baylor would have to pick up their game quite a few notches.
Baylor pressured much of the second half and scored first in the 45th minute by a nice run from Brent Jukubec. Closing the gap to 25-5. But then just minutes later bad communication on defense allowed another try by U of A thus increasing the lead to 32-5. The next few minutes saw Baylor repeatedly trying to attack but the U of A defense held strong. In the 60th minute Baylor had a nice break and Jon Hosket finished off the move for a nice try again closing the gap making the score 32 – 12. University of Arizona never looked back and scored twice more int eh 66th and the 72nd minutes to end the game 44-12.
This was a tough learning experience for the Bears, but exposed many of the problems we are experiencing on defense and in our set pieces. In general we will be looking to improve our toughness, tackling and general gameplay over the next several weeks. We have a very tough schedule ahead as we play:
Rice University 11/5 (Home)
Texas A&M University 11/12 (Away)
Angelo State University (Away & 1st Cup Match) 11/19
Starting Baylor Lineup (2nd Team):
Due to limited numbers by Baylor many of the faces were the same in the B side match.
1 Wilkins (replaced by Dylan Gray @ Half)
2 Scott Washko
3 Sebastian Price
4 Rob Geiersbach
5 Rhett
6 Jack Noe
7 Nate Sloan (Replaced by Josh Terndup @ Half)
8 Gavin Goetchius
9 Ryan Phillips (Replaced by Brent Jukubec @ Half)
10 Sean Tracey (Replaced by Jon Hoskett @ Half)
11 Mark (Replaced by Jordan Dubuisson @ 30 minute due to injury)
12 Streets
13 Josh Key
14 Andrew
15 Cody Riles
This was a very exciting B side game. Baylor second team came out and was playing more organized rugby than the 1st side, but still was disorganized on defense. The University of Arizona again used the wind in the first half to take a 17 – 0 lead at Halftime (Tries 6 th, 12th, 18th minutes). Baylor began to regain some composure and some aggressiveness and started hitting U of A behind the gainline. This started to turn the tide as Brent Jukubec ran in a try in the 50th minute, followed by a Josh Terndup try in the 55th minute and a Josh Key try in the 57th minute. At this point Baylor took the lead 19 – 17 with only 13 minutes to go. But on the ensuing kickoff Baylor had problems clearing the ball and allowed U of A to sneak in for a try in the 62nd minute to regain the lead 24 – 19. Then as time expired the University of Arizona kicked over a penalty kick to end the day with a 27 – 19 victory.
There were some bright spots from many of the new guys in this game. With continued hard work they will make fine rugby players in the days to come.
A special thanks goes out to the University of Arizona for travled to Waco this past Sunday to play us at our home field. Hopefully in the next few years we will be able to repay the trip and meet them again in Arizona.